Easter Pie (Pizza Gaina)

Years ago a friend brought us an "Easter Pie" 

Her recipe, from her grandmother, uses  Ricotta, Romano, Pepperoni, Salami, Hard boiled eggs, Acini di pepe (a pasta), and salt and pepper.  (That is not what is shown here)

An Italian dish, this is also known as Pizza Rustica. There are dozens of variations of the recipe, and I make it a little differently every time.   They are most commonly filled  with ham, salami, prosciutto, ricotta, mozzarella, and romano cheeses.. Hard boiled eggs are frequently  used as well.

Some recipes layer the meats, others chop them and mix everything together.

Some  even add spinach, or artichokes.   Much like a quiche, you can make endless variations.

Note - many traditional recipes use "basket cheese".  Basket cheese is very similar to fresh homemade mozzarella, but many recipes offer ricotta as a substitute.  Either works.

 I rarely use a an actual recipe for much of anything, much to my daughter in laws dismay.  In recent years I've made more of an attempt to write down basic recipes that are the "starting point" at least.  This is the "starting point" recipe for my Easter Pie in 2020.  I'm going to try to remember to come back each year and add the different variations as I try them, but it took me until 2023 to finish this 2020 post... so we'll see how that goes.  :-)

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Basic Pizza Rustica - No Pasta Nor Ricotta

Ingredients:
1/4 lb slicing peperoni (sliced at the deli)
1/4 lb mortadella (bologna)
1/4 lb capicola or ham
1/4 lb genoa salami
1/4 lb prosciutto
4 hard boiled eggs
1/2 lb provolone (sharp or mild to your preference)
1 lb mozzarella cheese, fresh or regular or basket cheese if available
10 eggs, beaten
2 pk Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust (or make your own!)
THIS MAKES TWO PIES

Prebake the bottom crust.  Layer the ingredients:

Pepperoni
Beaten Egg
Bologna
1/4 of the mozzarella
capicola
beaten eggs
provolone
sliced hard boiled eggs
prosciutto
beaten eggs
1/4 mozzarella
salami
rest of the beaten eggs
press down gently, top with pie crust

Brush the top of the crust with a beaten egg.

Some like to make this deeper, in a springform pan. 

 I like a deep pie dish for mine.

Cut vents into your top crust.  

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, then either brush with more egg, or cover with foil, and bake for another 45 minutes.

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